You are going to transport goods abroad. Whatever country you are going to export to, outside or inside the European Union, you will have to deal with export documents. Many of Brilliant Work’s customers run into this, which is why we have a cooperation partner for this. They have written a handy blog about this. Because you come into contact with customs especially when exporting outside the EU, different types of documents are required. Not having the right documents with your shipment can have unpleasant consequences. How do you ensure you get the right documents and fill them out correctly?
Export documents, or documents of origin, are requested by the country of final destination upon import for various reasons. This is because many countries use trade measures to stimulate or protect trade in their own market. Additionally, the origin or provenance of products is also a determining factor. The most common export documents are the Certificate of Origin and the EUR.1 certificate.
Certificate of Origin
With the Certificate of Origin (also known as CoA and Certificate of Origin) indicates the country in which a product was made. This often mandatory document is requested for political reasons (boycotts, resulting in products being rejected), trade policy reasons (quantity quota) and as a requirement in a Letter of Credit. The main starting points for determining the origin of your goods are the wholly obtained of your product or the last substantial working or processing to your product.
EUR.1 certificate
With the EUR.1 certificate you can entitle the importer in the country of destination to discount or even exemption from import duties. It is valid in all countries with which the EU (European Union) has a trade agreement. The amount of this import duty (also called customs duty) can be different for each product and country. Without this certificate the normal (higher) rate of import duty is charged, with the certificate the preferential (reduced) rate is calculated. The use of a EUR.1 is not mandatory.
Applying Documents
You now largely understand what the CvO and EUR.1 are for. But how do you know when and how to apply these export documents? For instance, how do you know if you need a Certificate of Origin? How do you know if your commercial invoice needs to be legalized by the Chamber of Commerce? How do you know if your documents still need an embassy’s legalization stamp? And how do you know what supporting evidence you need to have?
Exportdocumenten.com as the Solution
How nice is it that you can find the answers to these kinds of questions using just one platform? That’s because you can on Exportdocuments.com: the do-it-yourself webshop designed so that you can arrange your documents yourself.
- Creating an account is free. You pay per application, without any additional (financial) obligations.
- You receive advice from the (built-in) country requirements assistant about which documents you need for the country of destination.
- Your application is checked by our customs specialists for accuracy and completeness before being sent to the Chamber of Commerce, with which we have a digital connection.
- You can also arrange your embassy legalization through the webshop.
- Do you need help while navigating the webshop? The Customer Service team is ready to assist you by email and phone.
Uitvoeraangifte.com
Do you export goods to countries outside the EU? Then you need to submit an export declaration to Customs. You can arrange this customs document (also called EX-A) in the same way as the CvO and EUR.1. To do this, go to Uitvoeraangifte.com. Here too, you can create a free account. Within minutes, you can start arranging your first declaration.
For questions about export documents email info@exportdocumenten.com or call +31(0)314-354865.
Do you want to start exporting, but don’t know where to begin? Are you even aware of the laws and regulations of your target export country? Do you want to work with distributors or agents? And last but not leat, are they waiting for your service or product in that country? These are all questions that Brilliant Work can help you with. We have several in-house export coaches who have experience with different countries, both inside and outside the EU. And a nice bonus is, export advice through us can often also be partly subsidized. So don’t wait until someone else gets into your product in another country and contact us!
